C. Racial prejudice.
The internment of Japanese Americans was a result of widespread racial prejudice and fear in the wake of Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Many people in the United States viewed Japanese Americans as a security threat, and there was an unfounded belief that they were working as spies for Japan. As a result, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the forced relocation and internment of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans, most of whom were American citizens. This action was taken despite the fact that there was no evidence of any disloyalty among the Japanese American population.